Single of the Week!

Anna Meredith - 'Nautilus' from ‘Black Prince Fury’ EP (Moshi Moshi)

Because the best fifty pence I ever spent was on Philip Glass and Aphex Twin's deliriously wonderful 'Donkey Rhubarb' EP, I am naturally inclined tward 'Nautilus', which has levels of menace not seen since the sloshing water and endless refillable buckets of the Sorcerer's Apprentice. It is all blared brass and urgency, as if a whole, masked orchestra had turned toward you, as one, and brandished their fists. And it's the kind of exercise in sonic hypnotics that actually makes you feel nauseous. Which is to say; 'Nautilus' is SOOO good, that it not only made me cackle out a 'WOW!', but provoked me to hold my stomach, in the full expectation that something well sinister was in there, yearning to get out. MUSIC THAT MAKES YOU QUESTION YOUR INTERNALS! Jesus, this is something else.

Susanne Sundfør - ‘White Foxes’ (Sonnet Sound)

Despite containing a lyric about the 'gravy of your soul', Susanne Sundfør's 'White Foxes' had the power to obliterate all other singles this week, at least until I heard Anna Meredith. I think this is something to do with existing in a culture where having a powerful voice is prized over what you might choose to do with it; and because so many choose to simply bellow out Adele. All of this means that it is a beautiful shock to hear Sundfør, she being possessed of a voice of such unwavering clarity and pure, elemental force, it forces you to remember you should only use the word 'shivery' once per thousand reviews. In the video, a man goes to the hospital for what looks like a perfectly ordinary lobotomy until they cut his noggin open and remove a tiny baby fox. Now, where I live, the folklore is that the phrase 'Normal for Norfolk' was code used by General Practitioners when coming across persons with birth defects borne of widespread Sex When There Are Not Enough Families To Go Around. But when I watch the haunting videothing for 'White Foxes', I am thinking it is 'Normal for Susanne Sundfør'. She is ace.

Liars - ‘Brats’ (Mute)

I saw Liars on Saturday and came away with the impression that they are a band for whom hair is very important; they have a lot of it and it's all well directional. Anyway, they also happen to be quite good at music. As here, on 'Brats', which is all itchy scuttles and unsettlingly loud bass and loudhailer posture-vocals and hideous insistency. The mesmeric charms of its video are not to be misunderestimacised, either - with its unsettling re-telling of Mr. Elmer Fudd + his Wabbit. Because in this case, the rabbit keeps bending over to expose its porn-borne lady-genitals, and it dances with Fudd like it was possessed by Liars' shrill power. Horrible, brilliant.

Opossum - ‘Girl’ (Fire Records)

If you thought 'You Are The Generation That Bought More Shoes & You Get What You Deserve' could have done with a simpler message and one-word-exhortation-in-place-of-a-chorus, you might like 'Girl'. It rips off the chorus pattern on 'Femme Fatale' something terrible (especially the bit where Nico sings 'what a clown') - but it's much happier than either of those comparisons might suggest. Not least because Opossum approach their harmonies with all the zeal of Animal Collective. Very good.

Whenever I get a single I cannot make up my mind about - especially if it is as annoying as it is likeable - I end up thinking it is genius, two months' down the line. Now, I can't tell you if that will happen with Pseudo Nippon, because they are distracting me by being quite wacky and/or dangerous-on-bicycles in their video (they are not wearing reflective safety tabards, which is wrong). But if you are in Pseudo Nippon, you are quite welcome to pretend it is two months' down the line and that I have decided to love you. Because obviously what all bands crave more than anything, is belated kudos from an ageing Shins fan in Norfolk. Sorry.

Hooded Fang - ‘Jubb’ (Full Time Hobby)

On which Hooded Fang come over all Dinosaur Jr. And I don't mind, if it means they end up sounding this stompy, devil-may-care and slack-happy.